Updated: Halton Transport Goes under, Arriva Takes over 61 Bus

[Update 25/01/20: Halton Transport has officially ceased trading. Arriva has stepped in to provide a replacement 61 bus service on a similar schedule, but only going as far as Queens Drive/Rocky Lane from Monday to Saturday and Huyton on Sunday. Click here for the new timetable.]

Halton Transport has stopped operating and is in danger of going bust altogether, leaving passengers in Prescot without the 61 bus service.

The 61 route connects Widnes and Runcorn with Liverpool seven days a week, passing through Rainhill, Prescot and Whiston before heading into the city via Huyton, Childwall and Wavertree.

The company has continued trading with the support of Halton Borough Council in recent years, ending with a complete shutdown on Thursday 23 January, when several drivers failed to show up for work following emergency talks on Wednesday night.

The company’s website is down.

A statement issued by the council blamed Halton Transport’s “significant financial and operational difficulties” and for the shutdown but gave no further clues as to any progress.

3 Comments

Paul Mason

Thursday, January 30, 2020 at 7:45 am

To update Halton Transport ceased operations on 24th January. Arriva have taken over the 61 but has curtailed the service to the Rocket junction like. Passengers from Roby and Bowring Park are now cut off from Liverpool. School pupils, the elderly and other passengers are now expected to RISK THEIR LIVES crossing the LETHAL M62/Queens Drive junction to walk to another bus in order to get to Liverpool.Those who have them will be forced back to their cars adding to the existing congestion and pollution in the Rocket area.The 61 to Runcorn carried many school children to Wavertree schools. Merseytravel does not seem to understand that people will not avoid the car if they don’t provide a bus service running from 0600 hrs to midnight daily. Roby and Bowring Park have now NO EVENING OR SUNDAY service. Please, Merseytravel, no more greenwash about leaving the car at home. With the current useless management of Merseytravel the climate is DOOMED.

It is imperative that the elderly and less able have a bus on this route. Having lost the 139 service to town there is now no option for those not able to walk to the station. Considering the number of buses that used to run along Bowring Park Road the fact that we had no service after 6pm and an hourly Sunday service was terrrible, not we have nothing.